Rural Iowa Residents In Iowa Likelier To Have Health Insurance Than Urbans

About 95% of Iowa residents who live in rural areas have healthinsurance and feel they have adequate access to health care services,compared with 89% of residents who live in or near cities, according toa survey released Friday, the Des Moines Register reports.

The survey of 1,000 Iowa adults was conducted and funded by the Iowa Rural Health Associationto understand how the state's residents feel about their health care.Ann Selzer, an independent pollster who led the study, attributed thehigher percentage of rural residents with health coverage in part tothe larger number of senior citizens in rural areas who are eligiblefor Medicare.

According to the survey, residents with a lowerlevel of education or income and who are older are more likely toexperience chronic health conditions.

However, there was no differencein the rate of chronic conditions between rural residents and those wholive in nonrural areas. In addition, the survey found that 36% ofrespondents had some type of chronic disease, such as diabetes,arthritis or depression, while 85% said they feel good about theirhealth. Bill Applegate, a member of the IRHA and a chronic healthproblems expert, said it is encouraging that 88% of the respondentsfeel they can reduce their health care expenses by having healthyhabits (Leys, Des Moines Register, 10/5).

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